RFK Jr. supports New Hampshire’s primary status.

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently spoke before the New Hampshire State Senate on June 1, criticizing the Democratic National Committee’s decision to “evict New Hampshire from the first-in-nation status” and emphasizing the importance of having “a real democracy and a democratic election in New Hampshire.”

“It’s more than a tradition. New Hampshire plays a critical role in vetting candidates for the rest of the country, and other parts of the United States.”

In February, the DNC approved a plan to demote Iowa and New Hampshire in the 2024 presidential primary calendar, with New Hampshire and Nevada now voting second in the DNC’s calendar, three days after South Carolina opens the primary season. However, New Hampshire has a state law that protects its first-in-the-nation primary status, and state legislators have said that they will not move their primary date.

“I’m here because I am willing to participate in this primary in this state. I oppose the DNC decision,” Kennedy said in the opening of his speech.

Importance of Democracy

“There’s so many Americans who believe that the system now is rigged, the economic system, but also the political system, that the elections are fixed,” Kennedy said. “The Democratic Party particularly, ought to be making this election a template for democracy to our country and to the rest of the world.”

Kennedy and author Marianne Williamson are the only declared Democratic challengers who are running against Biden in the party‘s primary. Kennedy is the fourth 2024 presidential candidate to address the New Hampshire State Senate. The legislature has also heard from Williamson, Republican entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican businessman Perry Johnson.

Protecting Rights

Referencing the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy noted on June 1 that rights in the United States are “under attack like never before in history.”

“In the last three years, there’s been an all-out assault on the Bill of Rights,” Kennedy said. “We now have for the first time, the government participating in censorship, of political dissent of people who are criticizing federal policies.”

Kennedy praised what he called “retail politics” which are a cornerstone of campaigning in New Hampshire.

Focus on Common Values

“America is enduring an apocalyptic tribal polarization more toxic and dangerous than anytime since the Civil War,” Kennedy told The Epoch Times exclusively following the filing of the paperwork.

“And while Democrats battle Republicans, elites are strip-mining our middle class, poisoning our children, and commoditizing our landscapes.

“I will focus my campaign not on the issues that divide us but the values we have in common.”

Kennedy is the son of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy (D-N.Y.), who was assassinated when running for president in 1968. His uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Texas in 1963. His uncle, Ted Kennedy, was a U.S. senator who represented Massachusetts for 47 years until his death in 2009. He made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1980 against President Jimmy Carter.

Though he is a registered Democrat, Kennedy opposes many policies of the Biden administration, especially those related to COVID-19. An environmental attorney, Kennedy is also the founder of Children’s Health Defense, a non-profit organization dedicated to solving “chronic health conditions caused by environmental exposures.”

Conclusion

Kennedy reiterated a point he has made during previous addresses saying that “there’s no excuse for suspending our Constitution.”

“Those are people who are critical thinkers. They’re independent thinkers, and they’re able to step outside of that fixed, paralyzing iceberg of partisanship that has our country at each other’s throats,” Kennedy said. “They’re able to look at…”